By Anyang Macdonald, January 10, 2017
Cameroon Journal, Yaoundé – Member of Parliament, MP, of the ruling Cameroon Peoples Democratic Movement, CPDM party, for the Momo West Constituency, Hon. Enwe Francis Abi, has suggested that South West Governor, Bernard Okalia Bilai, be relieved of his functions for threatening suspension of salaries of striking Anglophone teachers.
The Governor had stated in an interview on CRTV’s news magazine programme, Cameroon Calling, Sunday January 8 that he had a record of all teachers who stayed away from classes last month, and threatened that they could have their salaries suspended if they did same this January.
Speaking to reporters same day in Yaounde, the Anglophone MP of North West origin said he expected Governor Okalia to have resigned or be sacked long ago for making so many reckless comments about ongoing Anglophone agitations.
“We have been having sleepless nights trying to ensure that dialogue goes through for the ongoing strikes to be called off. And when you are struggling to have dialogue with these trade unions and you see an administrator that you think should be part of the dialogue rather making disparaging remarks, it’s unfortunate…” Enwe told our reporter.
The lawmaker said he was appalled that the South West Governor was rather fanning the flames of the current crisis through provocative comments whereas the Head of State himself has acknowledged that there is a problem which cannot be “overlooked.”
“He (Okalia) doesn’t know how to act and I doubt how he has been functioning as a Governor. If the Head of State himself can recognise that there is a problem, who is a Governor? What he (the Governor) has done is wrong. If he says teachers’ salaries will be suspended, then he should be ready to suspend the salaries of all the teachers.”
“In the present context, I am not sure the Head of State can allow people’s salaries to be suspended because he understands the situation” Enwe added.
“Incapable” administrator
The Momo West MP also described Governor Okalia as an incapable administrator who is rather doing a disservice to government’s efforts geared towards finding a lasting solution to the grievances of the striking teachers and lawyers.
“The Governor has proven that he is incapable of managing a crisis…In Buea, we saw the real dictator who had to instruct the forces of law and order to trample on lawyers, seize their wigs, their robes and other personal effects. It is unacceptable; if this can happen in his territory, then this Governor was not supposed to be holding his position until now. Even if he was not dismissed, he was supposed to have resigned’” Hon. Enwe charged.
“Dialogue is going on; the Prime Minister has been on the field, Committees have been formed and they are working. So what the South West Governor is doing now is only coming to increase anger and frustration amongst the strikers.
He is bringing in more frustration. You cannot threaten people who are on strike. Elsewhere, like in South Africa, we see strikes almost every day but everything is in order and people’s salaries are not suspended.”
The MP also recalled how Governor Okalia was worked up when Anglophone CPDM MPs held a meeting with striking lawyers in Yaounde in November, a few weeks after the Common Law Lawyers started their strike action.
“After the lawyers started their strike, we the CPDM MPs from the English speaking part of the country met with the lawyers in Yaounde to try to find peaceful solutions to their grievances but this same Governor made calls all over, questioning why we the MPs had to meet with the lawyers. He even reported us at the Presidency, the Prime Minister’s Office and at other quarters, including the Ministry of Territorial Administration. Things should not be done that way…” he regretted.
Quizzed whether Okalia’s utterances on the current crisis was just a way of winning favour from the regime in one way or the other, the MP quickly retorted: “If he had not reached retirement age, he would not have been speaking like that. He is bitter and full of regrets because he sees retirement coming. If he thinks what he is doing is to enable him stay on, then he’s mistaken. He is rather sinking. A sane administrator cannot speak the way he is speaking in a crisis situation.”
Governor Bilai, it should be said, is a strict and an unbending administrator who is known to have maintained a controversial position since the lawyers and teachers’ strikes began. He is also known to be bullying at his collaborators like children.
Some opine that Okalia, who sources say was supposed to have gone on retirement, has been showing indifference to the ongoing crisis in the Anglophone Regions.
Recently, the Governor issued a warning to journalists in the South West Region to refrain from reporting on the ongoing crisis in that part of the country.
Okalia is also noted for his hostility to the press. In 2013, he triggered the ban of a popular talk show on CRTV Buea called Press Club.
Most inhabitants of the South West Region, who this reporter spoke to, say they are fed up with the governor’s excesses, controversies and his authoritarian approach to administering the Region.